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(AllHipHop News) Nobel Peace Prize recipient and legendary political activist Nelson Mandela has been hospitalized since June 8th. According to court documents filed by 15 Mandela family members, the beleaguered former South African president is in a “permanent vegetative state” and the family has been urged to cut off his life support.

Mandela is only surviving through the assistance of his life support machine, but his prolonged use of the machine could be indicative of a bleak physical condition:

“It indicates a very poor prognosis for recovery because it means that he’s either too weak or too sick to breathe on his own,” said Dr. Adri Kok,the chief executive of the Faculty of Consulting Physicians of South Africa.

The court documents and issue of how to handle Mandela’s current physical state arose from an ongoing battle between members of Mandela’s family and his grandson, Mandla Mandela over the Nelson Mandela’s burial place. Mandla moved the deceased bodies of the former South African president’s three children to his birthplace, the village of Mvezo. Yesterday (July 4th), the bodies were reburied in their original burial place in Qunu. The court documents believe Mandal moved the bodies in order to control where his grandfather is ultimately buried:

“By controlling the area in which these descendants’ remains are buried, he expects that the remains of Mr. Nelson Mandela will be buried.”